Express & Star

Record number of ambulance patients per day at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital

Stretched staff at a Black Country hospital dealt with a record number of patients arriving by ambulance in one day this month, it has emerged.

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A total of 135 patients were brought into the accident and emergency department at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley last Tuesday.

It was followed by another 120 patients on Wednesday, which was a sharp rise on the usual average of between 80 to 90 ambulance trips per day.

Board members of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which run the hospital, said the increases could affect its previously good waiting times, which has seen it named the best performing trust in the country for seeing A&E patients within four hours.

Trust chief executive Paula Clark, speaking at a board meeting, said: "Performances across the team during 2015 were outstanding. There were some ups and downs and one big issue has been staff shortages in a number of areas.

"We made sure there were plenty of beds empty before Christmas and we reached a 91 per cent performance for the four-hour target. But this week we had 135 ambulance visits on Tuesday, followed by another 120 on Wednesday."

Paul Bytheway, the trust's chief operating officer, said four out of the six days had seen more than 100 ambulance movements.

He said: "Admissions have been up and most seem to be coming late afternoon in bunches. Normally we see about 80 to 90, but the 135 was a record in terms of ambulance transfers."

The hospital recorded the best A&E performance in the country in March, less than a year after an investigation was launched because of it missed targets.

The hospital topped the national 'league table' for the number of arrivals admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, and continued to perform well throughout the year.

Its A&E department was one of only 29 to meet the Government's target of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

NHS watchdog Monitor revealed it was investigating the trust in July 2014 for 'consistently failing' A&E targets and the 'deterioration' of its finances.

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